Tana Amen - The omni diet: the revolutionary 70% plant + 30% protein program to lose weight, reverse disease, fight inflammation, and change your life forever

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Contents

To my amazing family for your support, love, and encouragement. To Daniel, my husband, for never doubting me. And to my daughter, Chloe, who always challenges me. This perfect blend of ingredients is a sure recipe for success.

[FOREWORD]

EVEN THOUGH YOUR BRAIN MAKES up only 2 percent of your bodys weightabout 3 poundsit uses 2030 percent of the calories you consume. It is the most energy-hungry organ in your body. The nutrition you give your brain is either helping it to function properly and repair itself, or hurting and tearing down the most important organ in your body.

The overall health of your body plays a major role in the health of your brain and your mind. There are now twenty-two scientific studies reporting that as your weight goes up, the size and function of your brain go down. The first study outlining this relationship between weight and brain function was performed by my friend Dr. Cyrus Raji and his colleagues. Reading it made me lose 20 pounds. I was not going to do anything that would shrink my brain! When it comes to the brain, size matters. After I published two studies from the Amen Clinics replicating Dr. Rajis findings, I coined the term Dinosaur Syndrome to describe this phenomenonbig body, little brain, on your way to becoming extinct. Knowing the science made it clear to me that I had to reach people and teach them to get healthy now. You literally have no time to waste. And as I learned more and more about the connection between physical health and brain health, I understood that nutrition was the centerpiece of healing.

My wife, Tana, has been my partner in getting and staying truly healthy and in educating others about the amazing power of nutritious food. Her reputation as a wellness expert has spread. These days, nearly everywhere she goes people ask Tanawhom they fondly refer to as the Brain Doctors wifefor health and nutrition advice. Friends, neighbors, the parents and teachers at our daughters school, people we meet when we travel to Amen Clinics all over the United Statesthey all want to know how they can improve the health of their brain and body by changing what they eat.

When people do what Tana suggests, they often get immediate dramatic and positive health benefits. We have been astonished by the many phone calls and e-mails she receives from people who have lost weight, eliminated body pain, gotten off medications, improved their energy, gained strength, and normalized their bowelssimply by following her advice.

When I saw the impact Tana was having on the people she met and worked with, I asked her to write the cookbooks for my national public television specials. My audience loved her and raved about the benefits that they experienced when they followed her program. Then, when I was tapped by Pastor Rick Warren to help put together the Daniel Plan, a wide-ranging health plan created for saddleback Church, I knew Tana would be the perfect coach. Together with our friends Mehmet Oz and Mark Hyman we helped 15,000 people to lose 250,000 pounds during the Daniel Plans first twelve months. Whenever we speak together and people ask for advice about nutrition and supplements, I always defer to Tana: Ask the Brain Doctors wife! Shes the nutrition expert!

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TANA HAS A PASSION FOR health. She trained as a nurse at Loma Linda University, in Loma Linda, California, a town whose residents are famous for their longevity. When we met, she was a neurosurgical intensive care nurse working with the sickest patients in the hospital. She saw firsthand the deadly effects of a lifetime of poor lifestyle and food choices, as people with obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic illnesses succumbed to early deaths. She also saw the dramatic transformations that took place when patients took charge of their health and changed their diets, reversing the destructive path of their illnesses, lowering their need for medication, and renewing their energy and health.

As Tana has discovered in her life and among the many people she has helped over the years, when it comes to good health, food can be your best medicine or your worst enemy. The typical Western diet of bad fat, salt, and sugarthink cheeseburgers, fries, and sodaspromotes inflammation and has been associated with depression, attention deficit disorder (ADD), dementia, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity. But, there is good news: if you start making better choices today you will quickly notice that you have more energy, better focus, a better memory, better moods, and a slimmer, sexier waistline. You can also lower your risk of developing a range of chronic diseases, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and cancer. Making healthier choices can even reverse the course of certain conditions, in some cases reducing or eliminating the need for medication. A number of new studies have reported that a healthy diet, just like the plan in The Omni Diet, is associated with dramatically lower risks of Alzheimers disease and depression.

As you eat your way to good health, you will also enjoy yourself. Eating the Omni Diet way has completely changed my attitude toward food: It can be healthy and be amazingly tasty. The Omni Diet was the start of a wonderful relationship with food. Rather than being a slave to foods that were hurting me, I willingly enjoyed a range of wonderful foods that boosted my health and made me feel good about myself. I used to be like a yo-yo: I would crave bad food, overeat, feel lousy, hate myself in the process, crave bad food to feel better. It was way too much drama. Since eating the way discussed in this book, I have never eaten better. It affects everything in my life in a positive way. I dont want fast food anymore, because it makes me tired and stupid. Instead, I want the right food that makes me smarter. And, contrary to what most people think, eating in a brain-healthy way is not more expensiveit will actually save you money. Your medical bills will be lower, your productivity will skyrocket, your outlook will be brighter, and your waistline will be trimmer. Feeling amazing is priceless.

The Omni Diet is the program we use at the Amen Clinics to help our patients get and stay healthy. The principles Tana and the Omni Diet use are good for your brain and for your body. The Omni Diet is smart, science based, and easy to follow. Tana guides you in a very practical, step-by-step way as you incorporate new ways of eating into your life. She has hundreds of tips and suggestions to get you started and to help you succeed. I can tell you from personal experience that she is the perfect teacher, cheerleader, and coachexactly the person you want on your side to guide you toward a new way of eating, and a new way of living.

Take it from a physician, neuroscientist, and brain health expert: With Tana as your guide, you can feel healthier than ever before. Get ready, pay attention, and be inspired The Omni Diet may very well extend and save your life. It will absolutely change it for the better.

Daniel G. Amen, M.D.

[Introduction: The Omni Way]

The doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but rather will cure and prevent disease with nutrition.